I have pretty much been a fan of both the Swordsinger and Temple Knight classes since Interlude (and played them both as main and sub at the same time) and for years I have battled with myself that they are unique in their own right, but at this point after 12 years I have finally come to terms and can admit that these classes are both in extremes when we talk about weak and strong points.
Swordsingers are the gem of any party and are generally party-support animals and can assume the tank role in a small party until you get to 49, while the other tanks in your clan catch up in levels to take over the role. At this level you also get Hunter's song which will let you duo with your WC easily if you ever need to break away from the party life. With a good dagger (say Dark Screamer?) you will maybe double up your DPS on solo hunting areas but not nearly as fast as BDs (BDs have tons of STR and debuffs to play with to optimize their damage potential). If you want to venture out in areas with x2 x3 HP mobs (like EV and TOI), Swordsingers cannot thrive alone or in a duo as main DD unless you join a party in a utility role (singing, supporting aggro from tanks, taking away the monsters' attention from healers and mages while tanks are busy with the core group of mobs). Being an elf which is a defensive class in nature lacking in offensive skills, coupled with racially low STR you're gonna have problems grinding solo and earning adena even with top tier weapons. But then again, parties cannot go long and deep in higher levels without a Swordsinger as parties are undoubtedly three times weaker without them (same goes for PVP).
Temple Knights are a rare breed and like swordsingers, it is always a pleasure to have one in your party let alone to see an active one in the entirety of a server's life. Temple Knights were once the kings and queens of shield defense amd AOE tanking (probably still are) until NCSoft decided to move the stat of shield defense from DEX to CON, but nonetheless are still the best tankers out there in my opinion. If you plan on purely tanking all the way to higher levels and not depend on your clanmates catching up, then TK is the one for you. But bear in mind that like all elves, a low STR stat will put you in a disadvantage in terms of damage (which you won't probably need as a tank in constant parties). TK is never meant to be a solo or farming toon and you will definitely have a nightmare-ish experience if you try to do that. In a party, TKs have two root skills (1 reliable and 1 unreliable) and self-heals to use (as much as your mana pool allows you) in case something goes wrong and healers need time to breathe before they can heal you, but other than being a tough bull to kill (and being the last one to die) there is not much more that you can offer in terms of damage.
Rerolling to any of these two classes seem like a 360 degree turn, far stretch from playing a Tyrant though, but another support or tank is always welcome in my party if not in the server. Good luck!
